'I followed orders,' former officer says of search

A roadside search of a woman - including unbuttoning her pants as cars drove by on a Saturday afternoon - came after a "chain of command" order, the former Marysville policewoman who undertook the search testified Tuesday.

"A superior officer gives you an order - you follow it and complain later," said Amy Alfred, 30.

Alfred said in Yuba County Superior Court that it would have been insubordinate for her not to undertake the search.

She searched Stacy Michelle May, pulled over Jan. 26 by another officer who said May wasn't wearing her seat belt. Alfred, who lost her job after the incident, faces a misdemeanor charge of an illegal body search.

Then-officer Joshua Hendrickson, 32, who has since been sentenced to 90 days in jail for directing Alfred to conduct a body cavity search, learned May was a parolee after stopping the Marysville woman in January.

Alfred testified Tuesday about arriving near 10th and Chestnuts streets and what she said Hendrickson told her.

"I think she stuffed something down the front of her pants," Alfred said of Hendrickson's statements. "I think it's dope. I want you to get it."

"I said, 'Are you serious? Can we do that?'" Alfred testified.

"He said, She's on parole. Get it done,'" Alfred continued.

Alfred said in court that May consented to the search, which produced no drugs.

Alfred said that after completing the search, she was somewhat angry with Hendrickson, who then told her to check May's behind.

"I said to him, 'Are you kidding me?" Alfred testified, adding that Hendrickson then repeated that she was to check the suspect's behind.

"I took it as an order," Alfred said.

She said Hendrickson then told her to check May's bra. After still finding no drugs, Alfred said she walked May back to Hendrickson's patrol car and then told the officer she didn't like doing such a search and wouldn't do so again.

Alfred said that she was told to go to the Marysville police station in civilian clothes Jan. 30, when she was interviewed by the Yuba County District Attorney's Office in connection with the search incident.

She said she had never heard of the term "body cavity search" until an investigator for the district attorney used it.

Alfred graduated from the Butte College Law Enforcement Academy in June 2005 and began with the Marysville Police Department two months later in her first law enforcement job.

During cross-examination Tuesday, Deputy District Attorney Shiloh Sorbello asked about the roadside search.

"You knew it was wrong, didn't you?"

"No, I didn't," Alfred answered.

Closing arguments in the case are expected today.

Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter Ryan McCarthy at 749-4707 or rmccarthy@appeal-democrat.com.